I don't know about the rest of the world, but the American public is very fickle. While television ratings for some shows suggest that people love homogenized entertainment and have no problem watching the same thing over and over, a portion of the public isn't like that. If an artist or a company keeps doing the same thing every time they present something new, the public will accuse them of being stuck in a rut and only doing it for the money. On the other hand, if something new is tried and it fails, the public will claim that the entity was out of its mind to try something like that and will wonder why it simply didn't stick to its old formula. It seems to be a lose/lose situation. With its latest film, Brave, Pixar tried some new things, while sticking to some old formulas, and the result is a movie which feels as if its being pulled upon by many different forces.

Brave takes place many centuries ago in Scotland. Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is the daughter of King Fergus (voiced by Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson). Merida is a free-spirit who enjoys archery and riding her horse. However, her mother insists that Merida act like a princess and follow every rule of etiquette and manner. Merida feels as if her entire life consists of her mother constantly nagging her. When Fergus announces that a young man from each of the three other clans in the kingdom will compete for Merida's hand, she is outraged. Her mood only worsens when she sees how bizarre the suitors are. Merida insists that the boys compete in archery, but she then bests them, which only outrages her parents. Feeling trapped, Merida flees the castle and enters the forest, where she meets an old witch (voiced by Julie Walters). Merida makes a wish with the witch which she thinks will change her life. Instead, she unleashes a curse which will effect her family and could threaten the entire kingdom.

And that's where the movie runs into trouble. Either Disney/Pixar did a great job in marketing this film or I simply wasn't paying attention to it, but about half-way through Brave, I realized that, going in, I really had no idea what the movie is about. And when the big plot twist occurs in the second act, the movie gets, well, weird. Brave goes from being a somewhat simple story about a head-strong princess in search of her independence to a full-on fantasy film. Not knowing about the twist (again, where was I?), the sudden change is shocking and a bit off-putting. Why? Because Pixar's move in a new direction suddenly begins to feel like an old formula combined with an interesting twist. Again, I don't want to give away too much of the story, but the film suddenly becomes Brother Bear combined with Finding Nemo, except it's a mother and daughter who are trying to connect, instead of a father and son. Brave also becomes one of those movies where someone knows the truth and no one else believes them and it becomes a race against time to save the day.

Brave really could have used a sassy side-kick on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. As one would expect, the transfer (which I assume is digital-to-digital) look gorgeous. The image is sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look fantastic, most notably the greens of the landscape and the fiery red of Merida's hair. The image is never overly dark or bright and the night-time scenes show nice looking deep blacks. The detail to the image is amazing, as we can see all of the finesse of the animation, and the image has a great deal of depth, even in the 2D version. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 7.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. I've never seen audio bitrates as high as those offered here, so some engineer really went to town on this track. The stereo and surround sound effects are abundant, and these really help to bring the film to life. We get distinct and individual sounds in the front and rear channels, and we can easily make out when the effects move from side-to-side or from front-to-rear. The subwoofer effects come to life during the action sequences, lending a wall-shaking rumble to the proceedings without overpowering the other sounds.

The Brave Blu-ray Disc contains a number of extras which are spread across two Discs. Disc 1 kicks off with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Mark Andrews, Co-Director Steve Purcell, Story Supervisor Brian Larsen, and Editor Nick Smith. The short film "La Luna" (7 minutes), which accompanied Brave in theaters, is included here. This involves a mumbling family whose job it is to clean the moon or something. Drugs are bad. In the grand tradition of Pixar shorts, this isn't very good. "The Legend of Mor'Du" (7 minutes) is another short film, which gives us the backstory of the great bear Mor'Du. The bulk of this uses a hand-drawn animation look (which resembles a "motion-comic") and it's fairly interesting. "Brave Old World" (13 minutes) shows us how the animators and crew went to Scotland to see the landscapes and locations for real in order to be inspired. "Merida & Elinor" (8 minutes) examines the two main characters from the film and shows how the artists created the look and personalities of the characters (including Merida's tricky hair). This also includes comments from Macdonald and Thompson. The creation of the bears and the research involved is discussed by the artists in "Bears" (6 minutes). "Brawl in the Hall" (5 minutes) shows us how the big fight scene in the film was choreographed and created by offering storyboards and test animation. The inclusion of realistic background greenery is explained in "Wonder Moss" (3 minutes). The portrayal of "Magic" (7 minutes) is examined, as we see how Merida's beliefs play a big part in the film. "Clan Pixar" (5 minutes) looks at how teamwork, creativity and fun are a huge part of a Pixar film. "Once Upon a Scene" (8 minutes) is a reel of DELETED SCENES and abandoned ideas which are depicted as storyboard-like test animation. The Disc contains four EXTENDED SCENES in which a scene from the film plays and a scissor icon identifies shots not used in the final film. Disc 2 opens with "Fergus & Mor'Du An Alternate Opening" (3 minutes) has Director Mark Andrews introducing an abandoned beginning for the movie. "Fallen Warriors" (2 minutes) is a reel of various deleted shots. "Dirty Hairy People" (3 minutes) looks at how the filmmakers attempted to accurately portray the look and hygiene of the characters, while also keeping a cartoony look. The use of actual Scottish phrases and words, as well as the accents, are looked at in "It Is English...Sort Of" (4 minutes). "Angus" (3 minutes) looks at the animation of Merida's horse and how it was based on real horses. "The Tapestry" (4 minutes) examines the work which went into animating a piece of cloth. "Promotional Pieces" offers three TRAILERS for the film, as well as some short scenes which were shown on Disney Channel. The final extra is an ART GALLERY of characters, environments, and the like.